This will lead into another of Valve’s free Team Fortress 2 weekends, so even the most unsure can check out the Pyro’s three unlockable weapons and 35 new achievements (if they play fast enough). Also in the update are two user-created TF2 maps, which Valve say is to, “highlight the great work being done in the community and distribute those works to all TF2 players.”

TF2 goes free at 11am PDT (7pm GMT) on Friday, and will stay that way until you run out of weekend. This should give everyone, even the cheapskates and paupers, a chance to find out what the other non-unlockable chances to the Pyro will be. Speculate below.

Meanwhile, I can promise Meet The Sniper is worth looking forward to, even if you were a weensy bit disappointed by the last two (although being disappointed by Meet The Scout’s Boinking makes you very stupid). It’s the best of the lot, with a peculiarly subtle depth of backstory, and some of the biggest laughs.

John – At least readers CAN go direct to the developers and get a response so quickly. It’s got to be good for everyone to have such a close relationship with one’s friendly neighborhood games developer.

@ Erlam Pyros more effective against snipers and scouts? man, you are definitely doing it wrong.
Soldiers I’ll give you. Even a good ambush against a soldier can be totally destroyed by getting popped in the air by a reflex shot rocket. Nothing can really go toe to toe with a heavy at short range. That is their forte. For scouts and snipers, just light them on fire and disengage.

I must say as someone who primarily plays a medic (over 100 hours as the medic alone), nothing messes up an offensive push like having a pyro or two charging around setting everyone on fire, killing medics that are building uber, scattering players out of choke points, etc. The pyro’s primary role is to slow down the push of the opposing team, and they do it beautifully.

I was saying they aren’t. And that, as a class, they aren’t really a counter to anything. They’re really not better in any situation than another class – they are ‘good’ at ambushes, but so are Heavies. Or Soldiers. Or Demomen. Pyro in your midst will hurt a lot of people before he dies, but a spy can kill several, if not all of them. Pyro’s are also the only ‘offensive’ class that cannot destroy turrets effectively.

They aren’t useless, but they aren’t as good as the other classes. I’ve played a Pyro since QTF, but I can still get a better score with any other class than my beloved flamethrower-toting class. They need something to replace the shotgun and give them a punch at even small/medium range. Molotovs, whatever.

Also I assume Ixis is a console player, as, well, every Heavy I see has a high sensitivity, and easily tears a pyro apart.

Erlam’s hit the nail on the head. They’re the only non-Support class that can’t effectively counter any other class, and I’m pretty sure that the idea of “The pyro’s primary role is to slow down the push of the opposing team, and they do it beautifully” sort of counters their theoretical position in the Offensive class group.

Hell, most Defensive classes are more valuable on offense than a Pyro. Which is why Valve is tinkering with how the Pyro plays, since making the Pyro a counter-assault, secondary defensive class probably wasn’t what they had in mind.

Personally, I’d like it if the flame range didn’t drop while moving, or if the Pyro were even a teensy bit faster. Otherwise s/he’ll be stuck as the “mediocre hallway ambusher.” In a game where survival means to keep moving (even Snipers), the Pyro is gimped unless standing still.

The Pyro actually does quite well against sentry guns when they’re not too far off from a corner the pyro can sneak up from–he can strafe around them faster than they turn and often burn them and their attendant engineer up before the sentry finishes them off.

Of course, other classes can slowly take out sentries from a distance. Pyros do it in seconds if they can start close.

Sure, ideally you get out of reach, but sometimes you try to hold a less than ideal point while you can–think of the upper walkway across from the Stage 1 second goal in Goldrush, for instance. In Badlands, sentries placed at either of the opposing windows across from the central control point also are exposed to round-the-corner pyros (even worse if a dispenser is between the sentry and the corner).

Anyway, the point is that the fast pyro is better equipped for up close battle with a sentry than a slow soldier, heavy, or demo, none of which can strafe quick enough. And it’s a lot harder for a lone engineer structures to stop a rushing pyro than to spycheck teammates in the area. With a medic on hand, the pyro is even better suited to the job.

And I’m totally stoked for everything, especially the new maps. I’m not looking forward to not getting all of the unlockables because of the sillier achievements though.

If you’re bashing the pyros ability to kill any other class, you’re playing the pyro wrong.

Against snipers, scouts, and medics, what a fucking joke! I can take any one of those down in less than two seconds – they’re helpless if I get in range

Against soldiers and heavies, I sometimes have some problems. If you can jump around enough that the soldier’s rockets don’t do much damage, you can easily burn 3/4 of his health away and retreat before he can pose a serious threat to your health. Heavies are easy as long as you sneak up on them and you have a full circle around them to pace

Against pyros, it’s just a matter of accuracy. Whether with the flamethrower, shotgun, or axe, the most important thing is aim

Against demomen is where I get my biggest problems. If I can ambush him at point blank I can take him no problem, but if I’m far away enough that he can sticky up the space between me and him, I usually have to retreat. I also have to jump around a lot as with the soldier to avoid his grenades.

I personally hope they don’t change the pyro too much. I like the class as it is now. When I play pyro, I regularly fill the #1 spot on my team’s roster. Once you figure out how to use the flamethrower, he can be absolutely devastating.

Oops, yeah. missed the “wait” at the end of that sentence. my bust!
I’m most curious as to the whole “significant changes to the Pyro class for everyone, regardless of unlocked items” part.

My votes for unlockables would be (not that it matters, heh) a change to the flamethrower to make it spew out a gel that sticks around to floors and walls for a few seconds, and a flare-gun replacement for the shotgun. Arcing projectile, slow fire rate, low damage, but set someone on fire from a distance. Thursday sure will be interesting!

i play the ps3 version of this game and we don’t get any of this stuff we don’t even have the new maps it’s unbelivable how bad they treat us and it’s not just the added content we don’t have it’s the laggey servers the patches that we don’t have so we still have glitchers please spread the word so maybe just maybe we can get the same things you guys have thanks.

I totally agree with ‘Pyro rules’
Those saying pyro isn’t really effective against any class simply play it wrong.
practice a little bit more… after about 30 hours as a pyro I almost always end up in the top 3 (among both teams) in terms of points.

the ps3 version was made and maintained by EA don’t hold your breath for any of this stuff they just churned the thing out and left it to quiver in their under performing extoplasm that is their servers sorry

where’s the meet the sniper video am i being dense by expecting it by now?

guys your all [of different opinions to me], add my name on steam and ill bring you to a private serer and show you how useless pyro is agaisnt any good class, a good scout can pwn a pyro, id hit you with so many airshots with my nade launcher youd be dead before you hit the ground. pyro is a nub class, but i want to get all the achieves regardless. pwnt
and btw, pyro vs scout, if socut is good pyro loses, scout can fight with his pistol form long range with his pisotl and pyro cant touch him.